Hi kdwcI was expecting better. The general announcements from...

Hi kdwc

I was expecting better. The general announcements from the company until now appeared positive and the share price was gently rising leading into the quarterly.

I now have concerns about the zircon price, the oversize material affecting production and the lower than expected TiO2 content.

Let me quote the quarterly then discuss.

The realised FOB price achieved for zircon concentrate was US$702/t, reflecting the current market pricefor zircon, TiO2 minerals and monazite as well as lower than expected TiO2 content. This appears to be significantly lower than the feasibility study price. The quarterly suggests this price will continue into the June quarter.

Whilst oversize material within the localised mining area is higher thanexpected, further ore body definition work and analysis of oversize in the ore mined and WCP and CUPrecovery will continue throughout 2024 to assess any material variation to earlier Thunderbird feasibilitystudy results. This suggests to me that the magnitude of the boulder issue is serious, unresolved and likely to impact profits (at least in the short term).

Mining rates are expected to increase to nearfull throughput by the end of the June quarter, with overall production of zircon and ilmenite concentratesapproaching 85% of commercial design. So not full steady state production at end of June quarter as I previously thought likely and no indication when zircon and ilmenite production will reach 100% of commercial design.

Of course none of this is devastatingly bad, at least not right now, but my confidence in SFX as an outstanding investment has been reduced.